I marked this as a sad story because part of it is completely heartbreaking but there is also some hope, if you bear with me this is going to be yet another novel of a post here - it has been the roughest week.
So I posted previously (https://www.reddit.com/r/FosterAnimals/s/6kika2OL0D) about this foster group, which was an emergency foster intake for me and was supposed to be short term just to keep them alive. Well. Things have been never ending.
After that post, I brought the non responder, Maisie into the clinic again and they found no parvo or any pathogen on the float test again but finally just gave her the kitchen sink of metro and panacur anyways. I brought her home, started the meds, and kept her separated from her siblings as she remained super diarrheal and also was such an absolutely horrid suckling offender.
She had not yet improved much but remained relatively fine otherwise the next day - and then on the last day of the Albon, the other three all burst with diarrhea again. fuck. Right? The clinic had no openings for that weekend, although I could have shown up and demanded help as an emergency I had already become mildly hated for doing that with this litter and then they had sent me home with nothing - they had already dismissed me so much bc of the float tests, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I researched what it could be and it appeared to be possible that resistant coccidia could respond this way and then break through, so I planned a private vet visit for first thing Monday and ordered Toltramax online hoping it would arrive quickly (it did not) but it was my only OTC option… I wanted a private vet to run a PCR test to finally get to the bottom of the now weeks of diarrhea.
Saturday, Maisie actually started to improve - stools got more firm, she was more energetic, keep in mind she never had any skin tenting during this and they all appeared to be doing pretty well despite the circumstances but I should have just gone to the emergency vet. After weeks of this being passed around though I thought I could wait for the more precise visit to do the PCR. I had begged the clinic to give me enough metro and panacur for the rest of them in case this very thing happened and they said no. And with maisie improving, everyone eating very well, adding unflavored pedialyte and pumpkin toppers and probiotics to meals and still doing daily disinfections of everything with rescue - I thought we could make it. I was wrong. At this point, the other girl? Mina was not suckling when given short times with her siblings, but now with Maisie being the most healthy and mid antibiotics - I put the other three now relapsed diarrheal kittens together to minimize cleaning and so they could all be together in one extra warm nest. They were sick but still super energetic, seemed as stable as they had been through all the dismissed clinic visits, bright enough to be running around while shitting and even play fighting each other some.
Sunday night, one hour after I had last checked on everyone and made sure they had everything they needed again, I went back in and the little black kitten, my poor little voidling runt, Murphy, was down. He was barely conscious and on his side with one side of his body in the water bowl. (To clarify - I do not leave any deep bowls for small kittens, it was one cm of water and they actually were drinking on their own which I took as a good thing given the diarrhea, his face was not in the bowl so he didn’t drown but probably it cooled him, passing out there unfortunately) I was horrified. I immediately picked him up and aggressively warmed him with drying with towels and a hairdryer on warm, heating a new heating pad for him separate and called the emergency line - I talked to them while continuously trying to warm him further as he dried quickly and rubbing sugar water on his gums. They told me if I went to an emergency vet it would not be reimbursed as they don’t have the resources currently and that if I drove to the clinic as soon as they opened they may be able to help more, which were horrid options but even then the emergency staff were not optimistic. It was so sudden. I kept him warm and constantly with the sugar water for hours awake all night (I had also developed a fever that day because idk I have the worst luck on earth rn) and we were at the clinic as soon as they were open - and they said they didn’t have a doctor yet so it continued for a while longer there. By this time he had not revived to the point where he would be safe to give oral fluids and although his skin was now tenting, they said subq fluids would not help. I maybe should have tried a private emergency vet but he really was not reviving - I feel terrible. The staff advised me when the doctor arrived finally that because he had not perked up at all besides some reflex lip smacking and twitching when touched/given the sugar, all they could do was help him pass. So I cried and said goodbye to him and he was euthanized.
Still reeling from that, they then tested the other two diarrhea kittens and NOW they come back parvo positive. Which is both shocking and devastating given 1) the weeks of diarrhea beforehand with negative tests 2) they have literally not touched a surface of my house outside of their constantly disinfected new playpens and new acrylic cage - and while I did have a panleuk litter a year ago - I bleached or threw away everything then and have had many fosters since without any infections - but I feel like it must be my fault somehow either from some ridiculous serious of objects being still contaminated (I mean seriously there’s nothing remaining except the floors and walls which have been bleached so much the color has changed AND THEY NEVER EVEN TOUCHED THE FLOORS - new blankets new everything) or from one of the clinic visits which means we never even found the original bug and infected them with panleuk from the visits. Ughhhhhh.
At this point because I was supposed to be handing them off soon for another foster bc of a procedure of my own coming up and my own health, they told me the other two would be euthanized. I was shocked because, yes they were symptomatic but they were still energetic, had appetites and no vomiting although their brother faded extremely fast I would not expect them to be given no chance - it’s not like this shelter doesn’t handle panleuk cases, they have an entire panleuk kitten room. So, feverish still, I drove back now with Maisie in a separate new box (cardboard bc at this point I had no sterile carriers besides my resident cat’s) packed with my tshirts. I asked them to test her since she was now doing much better than the others and had been separated for a good while. I said idk how I’m going to do it but if the only other option is having two kittens being put down without being given any chance, I’ll take them and medicate them. So they took her away (I thought they’d bring her back to say goodbye after testing but nope, I feel so guilty about that - plus never getting my shirts back either lol ok - but I usually say extended goodbyes and leave them with toys and personalized letters not a shirt in a cardboard box with holes, Jesus) and since she tested negative somehow and appeared to be healthy they said yes she can stay and go to a different foster to avoid infection if she’s good. The foster coordinator thought it was the right move and I was trying my best on no sleep under extreme stress and a fever so , that’s what happened. They did bring me back the other two and their meds; and them recommending euthanasia for two relatively stable kittens made me question everything about what had happened with Murphy!
Ok so anyways that was all one week ago now. It has been a hell of a fucking week guys, so very rough - my procedure was rescheduled because I was too sick but silver lining was then I was technically able to care for the kittens but we were all sick in this house. I was basically not getting up at all for myself and only for them all week because I was so exhausted and in pain myself, and after cleaning disinfecting medicating everything them, I had no energy at all for my own laundry or food or anything. But so far (knocking on wood over and over) they have made it. They finished the course of metro they were given (I had to fight to get panacur idk why they’re being stingy STILL) and I’m phasing out the pro pectallin but still with the pedialyte (which during this week on the days I could not drive them to the clinic for subq fluids - because they will not just write me or give me the resources to do it myself - or they were holding fluids better - I was giving them in tiny oral pushes as well as in their food). Their appetite never fully left but they did lose weight and although I constantly tried to keep them clean it was impossible for a while, they did lose some weight from the diarrhea. But we are (tentatively) on the up now - they have the bloated tummy skeleton look I remember from my last litter when they were recovering but are eating a lot, much more energetic, and for the last 48 hours no one’s tail has been covered in poo. Finally.
I gave them full baths two days ago with Dawn soap rather than the spot cleanings with wipes and half baths I had been doing (to not over stress their temps) and they’re still a bit weathered looking but much better. After the full bath though, Monty, the lil orange guy - appears to have lasting skin irritation. I was cleaning him off and dabbing vasoline for his legs and tail and groin area bc of the constant poo but it’s still looking kind of red down there - what worries me more is it seems like although he’s not staying as messy now, he is losing some hair and getting little irritation redness around his nose, tops of feet, and today on the top of his head, it’s very odd (they were tested and negative for ringworm on intake screening but this clinic has no trust for me rn but even then the timing is… not adding up not that anything is rn). I wonder if it’s some kind of dermatitis? If I watch him, it looks like it’s points where he’s rubbing himself when he tried to groom now he’s feeling more energetic but also still getting his head grimey when he eats… like the back of his hand goes on his head… but the nose it looks almost allergic… plus now they’re more stable but still little biohazards the clinic doesn’t want me bringing them in more than absolutely necessary but like what do I do for him I don’t want all his hair to fall out, and it’s very odd his sister is having no such spots I keep checking and they’re all over each other all the time from day one…. Plus again room super disinfected constantly and NO positive ringworm cases at all in this apartment… I wish I could give them more free reign but today for the first day I let them both run around a larger pen for a while bc I was confident we wouldn’t get shit everywhere… the largest space they will have until they are cleared as not contagious is my bathroom and that sucks but , I have two resident cats and idk when I’ll foster again but I want to have the option of not having my entire place super infectious… (one of my residents is a parvo survivor and the other is a 5? Now? Year old adult vaccinated healthy boy but still… trying my very best here).
Ugh ok I just needed to get all that out and if anyone has tips on - if there was a bug before could it have survived in their GI tracts and rebound when the propectallin stops and if so what is it and what meds do I need to demand if they try to ignore it again…. When they can be given more space (I think 10 days from.. probably today) … any other advice, I am beating myself up about Murphy and idk if he could have been saved but what if the clinic just could have tried harder or gave me bad advice that an emergency vet would’ve able to help given their non caring about the other two… and what the fuck is happening to Monty is it - a very strange presentation of ringworm? Stress? Medication side effect from one of the meds?? Can a vet see me on telehealth to help him bc no one wants the parvo kittens coming in their space… oof.